Pregnancy Loss and Stillbirth

Steps to Heal from Miscarriage and Baby Loss

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

sacred sadness breaking silence

The taboo surrounding miscarriage and baby loss continues to affect countless individuals, yet many suffer in silence. Dr. Aura Rose, author of “Sacred Sadness: Insights into the Spiritual and Energetic Layers of Miscarriage,” brings a fresh perspective to this sensitive topic through her research and personal experience with pregnancy loss. Understanding the Impact of Pregnancy Loss Dr. Rose’s journey into exploring pregnancy loss began after witnessing two women discussing their miscarriages in a coffee shop restroom. This encounter sparked her mission to create a space where women could openly share their experiences and find healing. The author’s research reveals that […]

Bereavement, Complicated Grief

Finding Light in the Darkness

Monday, October 14, 2024

light darkness hope

Finding Light in the Darkness: A Message of Hope and Healing In times of profound struggle and emotional turmoil, it’s easy to feel isolated and overwhelmed. However, Sue Frederick, a renowned spiritual guide and author, offers a powerful message of hope and reassurance for those experiencing what is often referred to as “the dark night of the soul.” She helps us in finding light in the darkness. The Dark Night of the Soul: Understanding Your Journey The concept of the “dark night of the soul” has its roots in spiritual and mystical traditions. It describes a period of intense spiritual […]

Complicated Grief, Death of a Sibling, Self Care

Re-imagining Hope After Trauma

Sunday, October 6, 2024

Re-imagining Hope The silent voice of trauma lies idle in the body. Years of dormancy may be followed by its unexpected impact, often on the precipice of healing.  As I fought for justice in my brother’s unsolved homicide, I knew I was losing my life. Over nineteen years, that awareness never became clearer to me than the moment I learned I had breast cancer.  My fight for justice, which ushered in the decline of my health, also initiated a creative approach to rise above the unresolved and touch the edge of hope. Engaging with Stress Stress can be a positive […]

Bereavement, Death of a Spouse

Widower Finds Poetry Healing

Monday, September 23, 2024

Widower Experiences Consuming Grief My wife Susan died unexpectedly in April 1991, the Sunday after Easter. I could never have imagined beforehand how transformative an experience that would be. Nothing was true anymore but the truths of her death and my continued existence. I was shaken to my foundations, forced to decide what I would keep of myself and what I would throw away. Every aspect of my life was subject to review, from my occupation to my spiritual beliefs, from my choice of friends to my choice of doctors. Although some friends were very supportive, for about a year […]

Death of a Sibling

The Gift of Becoming a Grandmother

Monday, August 12, 2024

The Gift of Becoming a Grandmother In June, my youngest grandchild, Madelyn, named for my beloved sister Margie, turned one. Our family gathered to celebrated Madelyn’s first birthday. I am grateful to be “Nini” to three grandchildren–Benji, named for my father will be five in July, and Jake is eighteen months, and Madelyn, one. As I sat in the enclosed playpen area with Madelyn, Benji and Jake beaming watching the new innocent lives, broad smiles, the unconditional love. The seesaw of emotions from the devastating heartbreak of losing two sisters, my anchors, my foundation, the darkness, and now the lightness, […]

Bereavement, Death of a Parent

Reconnecting with Mom Through Plant Medicine

Monday, September 18, 2023

Losing Mom as a Teen I was only 18 when my mother succumbed to pancreatic cancer. However, in the following two decades, I persistently avoided the profound pain of being a motherless son. Though I maintained a façade of functionality, pouring my energy into my career and globetrotting adventures, my heart limped along, unable to foster any lasting or meaningful relationships. I had constructed an emotional barricade around myself, but it exacted a heavy toll in the form of escalating anxiety and a relentless yearning for reconciliation. If only my mom and I could have figured out a different way […]

Bereavement, Death of a Child

Hope Can Be Learned

Thursday, September 8, 2022

This is an excerpt from Crossing the River: Seven Stories That Saved My Life, a Memoir (Abrams Press, 2021), by Carol Smith.  This is a book about trauma and grief. But it’s also a book about love, about living, about persistence and joy. It’s about reinventing, finding purpose, and discovering strength you didn’t know you had until you were called upon to use it. Every one of us fears there is something we could not survive. For me, it was the death of my only child when he was seven years old. He died suddenly, during what was shaping up […]

Bereavement, Complicated Grief

Posttraumatic Growth? When Loss Has Meaning

Thursday, August 11, 2022

Posttraumatic Growth is Possible “Nothing good comes from cancer. Nothing ever will.” I read those words written by a local newspaper columnist when I was working as a social worker in the world of pediatric cancer. During that time, I would sometimes look out the hallway window in the cancer unit and see the cars going back and forth on the interstate. I would think that somewhere out there are four or five families that have no idea that in the next month they will be here on the unit, their lives turned upside down. Earlier in the day, maybe […]

Bereavement

Cracked Open by Loss

Monday, April 11, 2022

I recently wrote a book about healing yourself from the pain of loss. It will give you a new perspective on how to face challenges in your life. Life’s losses can help you expand as a spiritual being and grow your ability to love yourself and live your life to the fullest. Cracked Open is for anyone experiencing grief, a natural response to losing something important in your life, such as the death of a loved one, the ending of a relationship, or experiencing significant life transitions. May it give you permission to discover more about yourself and shine hope, […]

Open to Hope

The Ebb and Flow of Grief

Sunday, March 27, 2022

Eleven Years Later If you would have told me 11 years ago, when I first lost my fiancé Greg a few weeks before our wedding day, that I would be living a full life –  healthy and functioning – I would not have believed you at that time. Losing your soulmate suddenly in a car accident without the ability to say goodbye or I’ll see you in Heaven when he was still alive is something I will always be working through. Sure I got to say goodbye to his physical body but not to his soul. My faith is what […]